NEW DELHI: The official death toll in India’s devastating second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic has crossed 2 lakh.
Fatalities recorded since March 1 this year account for nearly three of every five deaths from the virus reported since the beginning of the pandemic in early 2020.
India has reported more than 2.05 lakh deaths since March 1 (taken as the beginning of the second wave), which translates to an average of more than 2,000 deaths every day.
Fatalities in the second wave are now nearly 57% of all Covid deaths in the country.
India’s cumulative death toll from Covid currently stands at 3,63,029.
Globally, only Brazil, with nearly 2.25 lakh deaths, recorded a higher toll during this 102-day period.
The toll in the US — which cumulatively has the highest deaths at more than 6.1 lakh — was 82,738 since March 1 (counting that day).
While daily fatalities in India have been decreasing over the last three weeks or so, more than 16,300 earlier deaths have been added to the toll since the first week of May in data reconciliation exercises, with Maharashtra accounting for 11,583, Bihar 3,951 and Uttarakhand 779.
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